You Don't Have To Keep Your Distance Anymore
by TheOneWithTheQuill
Summary: ONESHOT. Prequel to Frozen. This is when Anna first finds out that Elsa has powers. :) Hope you enjoy.


**You Don't Have To Keep Your Distance Anymore**

It was an uncomfortably muggy summer night in Arendelle. Eight-year-old Princess Elsa lay in bed, her sheets kicked off of the mattress in an attempt to lower her body temperature. She could practically feel the heat seeping through the walls and into the bedroom she shared with her five-year-old sister Anna.

Elsa sat up in bed, sighing as she realized that she wasn't going to fall asleep anytime soon. She gazed at the little redhead sleeping in the bed directly facing her. How is she able to sleep through the heat? It probably had to do with the fact that Elsa had never had the greatest relationship with heat, what with her powers and all.

Slipping as quietly as she could out of bed, Elsa crept out of the bedroom and into the throne room, where she would often go to experiment. It was the only place where Elsa felt serene. She would lose herself in the storm of soft white snow swirling all around her, or decorate the walls with intricate ice patterns that reflected the soft shafts of moonlight that streamed through the triangular windows on clear nights. She would create families of snowmen or cover the floor with smooth ice and transform the room into an indoor ice rink that she would skate around on for hours. She often wished that she could share the magic with Anna, but she wasn't sure how Anna would handle the news. Sure, she might get excited, bubbly as she was. But she might also get jealous. Or scared. Gosh, Elsa didn't know what she'd do if she scared Anna. What if, after learning about Elsa's powers, Anna never wanted to play or be around Elsa ever again? Elsa wouldn't be able to handle it. She loved her little sister. So much.

The King and Queen had told Elsa that she could tell Anna about her powers if she wanted to; they would prefer it if Elsa told Anna rather than them. But Elsa wasn't sure if she wanted Anna to know about her powers just yet.

Elsa closed the door to the throne room behind her and sighed. She would tell Anna when the time was right. For now, she didn't have to know. Elsa had done well in hiding her powers from her sister; whenever she got angry or upset, she would bite her lip and run as fast as she could into an empty room to lash out. Elsa had a feeling that there would come a day when she wouldn't be able to hide her powers from Anna anymore, but she hoped that that day wasn't coming anytime soon.

Elsa decided to begin by creating a snowfall. Concentrating, she rubbed her fingers together and slowly began forming a snowball. It increased in size, and in a matter of seconds it was the size of her fist. Smiling, she tossed it up in the air and watched as a gentle flurry fell over the thoroughly waxed floor of the throne room. The palace staff would probably have a field day cleaning it up again. Oh, well. She'd help out when they did.

Seeing that at that pace the snow would take hours before accumulating enough to build a snowman, Elsa decided to increase the snowfall. She created another snowball, even bigger than the last one, and launched it in the air, creating another flurry of big snowflakes. Smiling, she swirled the snowflakes around, creating shapes and silhouettes out of them.

"Elsa?" came a tiny voice. Elsa jumped, turning her head sharply towards the doorway. There stood her sister in her little yellow nightgown, peering curiously at her sister and the snow falling all around her.

"Anna! I...I thought you were asleep." Elsa looked around her, trying to conjure up an explanation, however insane and unbelievable, for what was going on.

"Why is it snowing in here?" Anna stepped in, slipping on a pile of snow. Elsa quickly ran up to her, catching her before she hit the floor.

"Elsa? What's going on?" she asked, her big blue eyes wide with fear or curiosity. Or both.

"Um...I...uh..." Elsa bit her lip and looked around her. "I was just...uh...I..." Tell her it's a dream. Tell her this isn't real and that she's dreaming. But Elsa couldn't bring herself to lie to her sister.

Anna was still waiting for an answer. Elsa sighed.

"I...um...I...I did it," explained Elsa lamely, her voice trailing off. She looked at the ground, then at her sister. Elsa's heart pounded, praying that she wouldn't run away crying.

Instead, Anna grinned.

"That's so cool!" she exclaimed. "Do it again!"

Elsa would've breathed a sigh of relief if she weren't so stunned.

"Wait...you're not scared of me?" asked Elsa tentatively.

"Are you kidding? This is amazing!" breathed Anna, looking around the room in awe, her mouth agape and eyes still wide.

Elsa suddenly felt a wave of comfort and liberation wash over her. For the first time, she felt like she could tell her sister anything.

The two sister gazed at each other for a minute, Elsa half-smiling and Anna grinning openly.

"Do you wanna build a snowman?" asked a giggling Anna in a mischevious voice. Elsa almost laughed. She'd been wanting to hear that from Anna ever since the day she was born.

"I'd love to!"

The two sisters played in the snow for what seemed like hours as Elsa explained her powers to Anna and what she could do with them so far. Anna's excitement and delight only increased as she learned more and more about her sister. Around dawn, Anna fell asleep on a pile of snow, and Elsa gently carried her back to her room, carefully closing the door behind her and trusting the intense heat that would soon enter the palace to melt whatever snow was left over in the throne room.

As Elsa tucked Anna into bed and carefully slipped back into her own, she smiled. She'd never hide her powers from her sister again. Ever.


End file.
